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Earth and Air and Rain, Op 15

Introduction

Earth and Air and Rain, published in 1936, was not performed complete till 2 July 1945, by Robert Irwin and Gerald Moore. In ‘Lyonnesse’ and ‘The Phantom’ Finzi has composed what might be called enhanced ballads. Both have swinging tunes which carry their narratives, but their form is modified to reflect change. Both concern Hardy and his wife Emma: his first dazzling meeting with her, his sad return to his Lyonnesse after her death. ‘The Clock of the Years’ balances both songs, musically by dramatic recitative, and in content: in it the man’s age is constant, the woman’s alters—disastrously. The final song brings acceptance of the ever-lasting cycle of the seasons.

Recordings

‘There are so many really subtle and distinguished performances in this set, and so much sheerly beautiful singing, that I shall be listening to it of ...‘These are marvellous songs’ (The Oxford Times)» More

Details

When friendly summer calls again,
Calls again
Her little fifers to these hills,
We’ll go—we two—to that arched fane
Of leafage where they prime their bills
Before they start to flood the plain
With quavers, minims, shakes, and trills.
‘—We’ll go,’ I sing; but who shall say
What may not chance before that day!

And we shall see the waters spring,
Waters spring
From chinks the scrubby copses crown;
And we shall trace their oncreeping
To where the cascade tumbles down
And sends the bobbing growths aswing,
And ferns not quite but almost drown.
‘—We shall,’ I say; but who may sing
Of what another moon will bring!

Queer are the ways of a man I know:
He comes and stands
In a careworn craze,
And looks at the sands
And the seaward haze,
With moveless hands
And face and gaze,
Then turns to go …
And what does he see when he gazes so?

They say he sees as an instant thing
More clear than to-day,
A sweet soft scene
That once was in play
By that briny green;
Yes, notes alway
Warm, real, and keen,
What his back years bring—
A phantom of his own figuring.

Of this vision of his they might say more:
Not only there
Does he see this sight,
But everywhere
In his brain—day, night,
As if on the air
It were drawn rose bright—
Yea, far from that shore
Does he carry this vision of heretofore:

A ghost-girl-rider. And though, toil-tried,
He withers daily,
Time touches her not,
But she still rides gaily
In his rapt thought
On that shagged and shaly
Atlantic spot,
And as when first eyed
Draws rein and sings to the swing of the tide.

When Lawyers strive to heal a breach,
And Parsons practise what they preach;
Then Boney he’ll come pouncing down,
And march his men on London town!
Rollicum-rorum, tol-lol-lorum,
Rollicum-rorum, tol-lol-lay!

When Justices hold equal scales,
And Rogues are only found in jails;
Then Boney he’ll come pouncing down,
And march his men on London town!
Rollicum-rorum, tol-lol-lorum,
Rollicum-rorum, tol-lol-lay!

When Rich Men find their wealth a curse,
And fill therewith the Poor Man’s purse;
Then Boney he’ll come pouncing down,
And march his men on London town!
Rollicum-rorum, tol-lol-lorum,
Rollicum-rorum, tol-lol-lay!

When Husbands with their Wives agree,
And Maids won’t wed from modesty;
Then Boney he’ll come pouncing down,
And march his men on London town!
Rollicum-rorum, tol-tol-lorum,
Rollicum-rorum, tol-lol-lay!